Running KDM as a user from Console.
 

Hi

I have installed open linux system in graphical mode and have changed the inittab default to 3.Linux boots in console mode .I usually log in as user and when i want to run KDM it gives the Error message only root wants to run KDM.infact from console If want to run KDM I have switch to root and run KDM again log in as user in KDM.Is it safe to do on my desk top? How can i directly run KDM as console user?

Thanks
Chandrakumar

Well, KDM is, for most users, intended to be used as a login manager. So, once one has already logged in via the console, the main use of KDM is already gone.

+ Is it safe to do on my desk top?

I don't know what "it" is. Is what safe? I can take a guess that "it" maps to "running kdm as root". If this is the correct mapping, in general, the answer is yes. That is the intended use. The idea is that, once the system starts up, no users are logged in yet. KDM runs as root, and then allows normal users to log in.

However, logging into the console as root, and then running KDM doesn't do much. One can press ctl+alt+backspace to kill X and KDM, and then they have a free root console to work with.

The idea is to have the startup scripts run KDM as root in such a way that kdm crashing/failing will not drop the console back to a root prompt. You may need runlevel 5 for this, I don't know about RedHat, I use Gentoo.

+ How can i directly run KDM as console user?

Not sure kdm will make this easy for you. Do you really need the functionality of KDM, or are you simply trying to log in and get to your graphical environment. If you just want X, log in the console, and then type "startx".

There is no reason to run a login manager if you are already logged in. The startx command can run X11 for you.

but you can still run KDM if you wish to.

The location of the kdm file might be different on your distro, though.

I tried startx but nothing happens, X will not start, after sometime the $ prompt comes back without giving any error message. Is there any tweak to make that work?

I usually avoid KDM as I'm the only user on my computer, so I go to main menu/control_center/system_administration/login_manager and click on "Administrator Mode" at the bottom, then click on the "Convenience" tab and put a check in the "Enable auto login" box and select the user to enable if there are more that one user account. Now when you issue command: startx as the selected user in init3, it should load the user's KDE desktop without needing to log in via KDM.